


I Can’t Stand The Silence

by Spencebox



Category: A Quiet Place (2018), Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types, Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
Genre: Angry Marzia, Call Me By Your Name Quotes, Call Me By Your Name/A Quiet Place Crossover, Character Death, Deaf Marzia, Eventual Sex, I promise, M/M, Monsters, Mr. Perlman sees all, Pain, Pregnancy, Shy Elio, Shyness, Sign Language, Waterfall, What Have I Done, peach sighting, pinky swear, spooky shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 06:18:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14302659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spencebox/pseuds/Spencebox
Summary: When the world was purged into silence, everyone knew:They hear you,They hunt you.And following those rules kept you alive, kept your family alive. It kept you safe, as if safety was an option.Living on a farm was Elio’s life. And the quiet was all he knew. And he would have never guessed that the tall blonde man with the salmon colored dirt encrusted shorts would change everything for him.





	I Can’t Stand The Silence

**Author's Note:**

> It’s spring break. I mean, if not now, when?

_Si·lence_

_complete_ _absence of sound_

* * *

  
A small girl dashed through the abandoned supermarket, feet bare as she moved through the rows, face hard as she searched. Her eyes looked at the various empty rows, cans scattered on the ground and claw marks etched into the floor. She plopped her butt on the ground and searched her pocket for a crayon. Her small hands gripped the red wax as she drew out a shape on the floor, one she saw in her dreams. She thinks it was called a spaceship, it was used to leave places you didn’t want to be anymore. She wishes she had one so she could take her family far away.

Picture forgotten, she stood once more, running to the next aisle. Her eyes found her brother, his eyes closed in pain as his hand gripped his stomach.

A woman looked through the shelves of medication, looking for the one that would make her sons pain flee. Her hands shook as she found the right one, trying not to shake the bottle, knowing the sound would be their end. She smiled when the pills successfully dropped in her hand, silently walking to her son and handing them to him, watching as he drank from the thermos to down the white pills. His nosebleeds had been more frequent, the pain in his side happening more times than not, yet she would do anything to keep her son safe.

Another girl watched as her youngest sister tried to reach a toy, rolling her eyes at her fruitless effort. She scratched her ear and clicked off her hearing aid, knowing they were safe for now. Her eyes widened when her sisters fingers nudged the toy off the shelf and straight for the ground. She dived for it, catching it just in time. She handed the toy to her sister and grabbed her small hand, leading her to the front of the store.

The woman was with her husband, the boy in his arms. The mans eyes widened when he spotted the toy and rushed to the girl, taking it from her and putting his fingers to his lips. He signed the word ‘noise’.

He took out the batteries and placed them on the counter, then the toy spaceship. He stood, hoisting the boy up higher onto his chest and walked away, the woman following. The girl looked at her youngest sister and sighed, she handed her the toy and patted her bronze curls, following after her mother. If she had looked back, just for a moment, she would’ve seen the young girl grab the batteries off the counter.

She sped after her sister, making sure to stay on the path of dirt- she had learned to never stray from the dirt- as she walked after her family.

Her eyes took in the empty stores, deserted cars and the putrid smell of death. She had only been into the store two other times, and she had never seen other people. As if other people still even existed.

They walked, on and on, past train tracks, past trees. There were so many trees, they were always surrounded by trees. And in the trees were where the things they feared most resided. The man, the boy and the woman had crossed the bridge, and the oldest daughter had just crossed over, the smallest child still at the edge. The youngest girl though, had stopped in her tracks.

The little girl looked at her toy, then back to her family. She smiled at her toy spaceship.

A whirring noise rang through the air, the beeping of the spaceship making her mother and father turn in absolute terror. Her mother’s hands covered her face, hiding her cries of terror for her youngest child, and her older sister was unaware of it all. Her hearing aid was off, not like it had ever worked. Her father practically dropped the boy on the dirt path and ran, head turning to the thing running in the forest, straight for his child.

He couldn’t see the beast, he would not wish that fate upon his worst enemy, having to gaze at the monster, but he knew it was there, charging towards the end of the bridge. He had run as fast as he could, chest heaving and nostrils flared, but it had not been fast enough.

He had been just a step away from the edge of the bridge when the monster had leapt.

 

* * *

 

_2 years later_

 

Elio stood and breathed in the air, the rays of the sun like a blanket on his skin. His eyes searched the cornfield, looking down the pathways, and back to the sky. He loved the day, and feared the night. Though truthfully, it was not as if the fear left him when the sun would shine through the cornfield, no, the fear was silent in the day, it’s presence never leaving his mind though trying his best to hide it away.

Fear is what kept them, his family, alive. Fear is what urged them to make pathways with dirt so no leaves would crunch against their feet, urged them to plaster the room under the barn walls with newspaper so it would be soundproof, urged them to never make a sound. Elio couldn’t remember the last time he had heard his own voice, his mother’s voice, or fathers or Marzia’s.

Marzia, unlike Elio, would never even have the chance to hear a sound, for she was deaf. Their father had been working on a hearing aid, but his efforts seemed fruitless. Marzia would say she could only hear static that would make her ears hurt, and eventually, she stopped wearing it. Elio loved his sister, but Marzia was hurting, and blamed herself for the death of their youngest sister, Chiara.

Marzia had sobbed in silent that she had given her the toy, that her death had been on her hands. Elio had told her that wasn’t true, still told her, but she didn’t believe that. But Elio couldn’t hate her or be angry, she was 14, the age of rebellion, and was full of anger. Elio was 17, the age of maturity, and just let her be.

He sighed as he walked back into the house, making sure to step on the white marks, his father had put them there to make sure no floorboards creaked when they walked. It had been hard at first, Elio remembered when he had hit the wall and a picture frame had hit the ground, the loud noise resonating through the house.

That was the first time he had actually seen one of the monsters. He had heard them before, heard them thumping through the house when one of them made the mistake of dropping something on the hard floor, heard their footsteps searching for the source of the noise that had attracted them so. Actually seeing one of them was like staring the gates of the hell in the face.

They were- it was hard to describe really. They were demons, monsters, with teeth like knives and sharpened nails, their heads holding no eyes only made them more terrifying. They walked on all fours, legs long and black as night, and the screeches they made were enough to make a persons skin crawl.

Elio had held his breath, watching as the monster had crawled up his porch and had looked around, opening its ears to the sounds around. His lungs had hurt from holding his breath but that pain was better than death by the same hands that had taken his youngest sister. Watching it leave had been heaven, but the fear had never left since.

He shook his head, throwing away the memory and walking down the stairs, smiling at Marzia, watching as his mother rubbed her pregnant belly. She had been growing bigger everyday, menial tasks like doing laundry had become laboring, though she did not stop, as she would rather Elio learn from his father to gather food and hunt. Marzia had wanted to join her father, but he had refused time after time, wanting her to take care of her mother. Marzia rarely asked anymore.

Time passed by slower, some days felt like a continuous loop of the same thing. They would try to play board games, or maybe plaster the walls some more, but time never moved faster.

Elio moved his piece, grinning at Boardwalk Ave, knowing that he was about to win Monopoly, for the hundredth time. Marzia moved her arm, hand stretching to grab the money from Elio’s pile, when her arm hit the lantern, fire catching the blanket and the sound of glass breaking hitting the air.

Mr.Perlman acted fast, grabbing a blanket and putting out the fire, putting his finger to his lips as he looked at his children. They were all silent, waiting.

The loud thumps sounded above them as they held their breaths. Elio closed his eyes, truthfully believing that if he shut himself out, it would disappear. His father moved silently, stepping to peer out of the window, wanting to see what was out there at least to make sure it was in fact on them. Head inching closer, eyes trying to see in the night. He nearly jumped when a cat screeched at him and jumped off the windowsill.

Elio’s eyes popped when he faint scream resonated through the house, which resulted in the monster running from their silent abode. Elio looked at his family and shared their curious faces. He looked to the wood above their heads, where had it come from?

* * *

 

Elio hung up the wet clothes, looking to his mother to hand him another one. She handed him a plaid shirt, his hands flinging it over the clothes line. He looked back, ready for another shirt when he looked to his mother.

‘Is something troubling you?’ She signed to him, though mouth still moving to the words.

He nodded, giving her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He was about to sign back when caught his mothers wide eyes looking over his shoulder. His heart stopped, thinking it was the absolute worst. His head turned slowly, breath labored yet silent, turning to see what was behind him.

There was a man, dirty blonde hair, a patch of dirt covering his forehead. He was taller, taller than his father, and was dressed for a particularly hot summer. His salmon shorts had become crusted with dirt and what looked to be dried blood. His shirt was torn open, the billowy button up not doing much for his modesty. His chest, like the rest of him, had flecks of dirt, and the hair that covered his toned stomach was full. His face was what stopped Elio.

He was the most beautiful man Elio had ever seen.

His lips were slim yet he pondered what they tasted like. He wondered what he looked like with the dirty clothes gone. He wondered what he would look like with the skin splaying across his naked skin. He hadn’t realized how long he’d been staring.

His mother was silent as well, though he predicted she didn’t know if he was friend or foe. Her strong hands signed, ‘What do you want?’

The man took in a breath before collapsing forward onto the ground, prompting Elio to sprint to him, turning him over on his back. He briefly noticed his mother sprinting away, most likely to get his father. He took in the long lashes on the relaxed face, and found his index finger reaching out and rubbing the lower lip of the mysterious man. The skin was surprisingly soft as silk.

His father’s hand pressed against his shoulder, moving him away from the man, wanting to inspect him for himself. He took in his appearance and nodded, looking to Elio to help lift him. They stood, mans arms over their shoulders, and trudged into their home, carefully getting him into Elio’s bedroom, laying him on one of the two beds that had been pushed together.

His head rolled to the side yet he remained unconscious, body lax on the bed.

‘Watch him.’ His father signed and Elio nodded. Elio’s father left yet his mother remained, eyes squinted at Elio. She gave him a soft smile as her hand rubbed his black curls. She stood and left, graceful as ever.

Elio turns his attention back to the blonde man, eyes taking in all off him. Elio pushed his palm again his growing erection, trying to will away the thoughts that had no place here. Yet he only grew harder as his hand and reached out, fingers dancing across the hairs on his upper chest, fingertips dancing over perky nipples.

He reared back as if burned when he caught sight of Marzia, one of her perfectly shaped eyebrows risen. Before he could even sign to beg her to say nothing, she shrugged her shoulders and walked away, leaving them alone once more.  
  
Elio stood and stepped off the bed, walking to the door and shutting it, looking back at the man on his bed. He shed his shirt, walking to the bed and stepping on, closing his eyes and curling against the mans arm. He wondered what his voice sounded like.

* * *

 His name was Oliver.

Just Oliver.

He was 24, and there was a time when he was trying to be a professor at Columbia, though all those thoughts were long gone. He didn’t say how he came to be in a place like this, but Elio probably didn’t need to know.

He had been living with a camp of three other people for months, in the mountains in the woods outside the farm. He was one of the lights that his dad would see when he lit the fires every night. He explained that two night ago, one of the women in his camp had screamed and well, that had been the end of them. When Elio had asked why she’d screamed, Oliver’s eyes had shot to his mother’s pregnant stomach. He had said nothing more about his camp.

He had been running the whole night before, knowing that there were people here, his greatest chance of survival. He had barely made it, exhaustion taking over his body. They had been his salvation.

* * *

 

Time moved faster with Oliver there. They talked, well, since Oliver didn’t know sign language, Elio taught him a bit, though he still needed to mouth the words when they had conversations. But Oliver was fun, he was nice, he was something entirely new.

He would write out stories of his favorite books that Elio had never heard of, and Elio would show him all the music he had written. They made each other smile, and his parents could see it too. He would catch the small sly smiles the other would throw him, and avoid the full blown bright smiles from his father. Though from Marzia, he received pierced looks and an upturned nose.

Elio had realized that he liked Oliver. Like really _really_ liked Oliver. He liked how Oliver would let him silently mouth words about books he used to enjoy reading, or his favorite fruit. Oliver liked spending time with him, and Elio found he enjoyed Oliver’s presence. 

It had taken him a little longer to realize that that was what love felt like. That love was wanting to stay by their side, wanting to hear their every word. Maybe Oliver loved him too. Elio tried to push away the thoughts that spoke of how Oliver could find someone better- if there even was anyone else left- and tried to think that maybe Oliver felt the same way. Just maybe. 

His father had decided that he needed to teach Elio how to get fish from the river just a ways into the forest, and he had begged to allow Oliver to come along, and the older man had gracefully given in. They all know leaving Elio’s mother alone, with how pregnant she was, was a dangerous move, but they needed food.

The three were ready to go, though Marzia stood next to her mother, an angry look on her face. She had wanted to go with them, but their father had said she needed to stay with their mother, she needed protect her. Marzia had stomped her foot but not spoken, instead brooding in silence.

  
They had bid the two women farewell, Elio’s father leading the way, full backpack bouncing with his every step. Elio waved back to his mother, smiling at Marzia’s frown before turning back to the forest, Oliver at his side. They walked along the dirt path, cringing when they stepped into the forest floor, none of them looking back at their home.

Elio walked along the path, it wasn’t like the dirt one but all the leaves and branches had been pushed aside. He looked around, scanning the dark trees, wondering who was out there. If anyone was.

A finger tapped his shoulder, his neck craning to look at Oliver. The taller man was pointing at a tree, smiling at the bright orange peach that practically emitted an fruity glow. It was up on one of the higher branches, waiting to be plucked. Elio licked his lips, imaging the juices running down his chin, and blushed when Oliver caught a peek at his tongue. He blushed and looked away, continuing after his father.

They made it to the water. It was unbearably loud. The ferocious waves crashing against the jagged rocks were unsettling, Elio was so used to the quiet, to hear something other than deaths footsteps was downright odd. 

Elio saw his father grab one of the fish cages, reaching in and grabbing a live one. He nearly screamed when his father cracked its neck, the sound though was shadowed by the water.

“It’s okay, they can’t hear us here.” Elio hadn’t heard his father’s voice in so long, it sounded almost foreign. Elio didn’t speak back, still looking over his shoulder, waiting for the monster to jump out.

That never did happen.

“Let me guess. The noise from the river is louder than our voices, so… we’re safe here.” Oliver’s voice was more know-it-all than he would’ve thought but that didn’t mean butterflies didn’t erupt in his stomach when Oliver spoke again.

“Let’s go to the falls. It’s even louder up there.” Elio nodded, smiling at his father who had decided to stay behind and catch a few more fish. They walked together, not speaking even though they had the chance. Water splattered on their knees and they climbed up rocks, reaching the inside of the waterfall. Oliver and Elio sat next to each other, knees bumping against one another.

“So, What’s the deal with your sister? She always that mad or does she just hate me?” Elio chuckled, though it was not full of mirth.

“She blames herself for our sisters death. And for a long time, I did too. But I realized, she hated herself more than I ever could, and hate has no place in a world like this Oliver.” Elio’s nimble fingers slid from his thin pale thigh to Oliver’s larger tanner one. His fingertips rubbed the golden hairs, looking at the rushing water.

“For some people, in a world like this, hate is all they have. Your kindness is a gift to this world Elio. I hope you know that.”

“I know nothing Oliver.”

Oliver laughed as his own hand rested upon Elio’s. “You’re being to modest Elio. I’ve seen your music, we’ve-sorta- talked, in a way, I mean you taught me sign language. You are the only good I’ve seen in this world. Don’t bury it, let it thrive while you have what most people have already lost.” Oliver turned to look at Elio, eyes searching.

Elio let out a sad sigh. “If only you knew Oliver.” Elio tried to stand but one of Oliver’s hands reached out and stopped him.

“If only I knew what? C’mon Elio, don’t hide from me.” He sat back down, turning to face Oliver. He licked his drying lips, eyes darting around Oliver’s face, trying to find the right way to speak his mind. He felt he had to because… when he was gonna have another chance like this again?

“If only you knew how little I know about the things that matter.”

Oliver looked confused. “What things that matter?”

Elio blushed, moving to push his face into Oliver’s chest, mumbling a few unintelligible words that prompted Oliver grab his shoulders, making them face once more.

“You know what things.” The realization came into Oliver’s eyes, and Elio wanted to hide away. One of Oliver’s hands caressed Elio’s plump cheek.

“Why are you telling me this?” Those long fingers rubbed across Elio’s lower lip, the younger boy’s tongue jutting out to give it a taste.

“Because I thought you should know. I couldn’t- I-I couldn’t live with myself If I didn’t tell you. I just-I had to Oliver.”

The long fingers on his face stilled, but still remained.

“You thought I should now…”

Elio gulped.

“Because I wanted you to know.”

They’re lips fought as one, flesh against flesh, teeth against teeth. Elio’s hands wound around Oliver’s neck, pulling the older man as close as he could. Oliver pulled Elio to him, one hand grabbing a fleshy butt cheek and the other pressing the boney back as close as he could.

Breathy moans filled the area behind the waterfalls, hands scrabbling for purchase, trying to grab more skin and remove more clothes.

_“Let’s go boys! It’ll be dark soon!”_

Oliver and Elio broke apart, breathing heavily and licking their lips. Elio looked to waterfall, nodding and standing. He held out his hand to Oliver, and he took it, standing up. No words were spoken and Elio started walking away. He gasped when a hand on his shoulder pulled him back.

Oliver was smiling, eyebrows high and mouth showing off somehow still pearly whites.

“This-”, he pointed at the area between them, “ is not over. Not by a long shot.” Elio nodded, lightly slugging Oliver in the shoulder before making his way out of the waterfall, waving at his impatient dad. The three of them made their way back into the forest, leaving behind the time spent exchanging words instead of signs. They had shared laughs and shy looks instead of fearful glances and terrified whimpers. It was something new, and Elio hoped he could experience it again.

It was halfway back home, at least Elio predicated it was at least halfway, when Elio stopped in his tracks. There was a White House, it was old and rundown, the words ‘GET AWAY’ written messily over the door. He was tempted to look inside but jogged to catch up with his father, nearly running into his back.

There was a man, a few feet away, a body at his feet. She was dead, throat torn open with blood coating her dirt covered clothes. Elio assumed that was the man’s wife. The man’s lips were shaking, his eyes watering, and the three men knew what was coming. They had no time to prepare as an emotionless scream echoed through the woods, catching the attention of his wife’s killer.

Elio was frozen, blinking when Oliver picked him up and ran, Mr. Perlman behind him.They slid behind a tree and Elio heard the sickening slice of the monsters blade like arm through the man, the scream stopping instantly. Elio’s lip wobbled and he covered his ear, drowning out the noise of teeth crunching on bone.

They must have waited thirty minutes for the monster to finish and leave, probably hearing something in the distance. Their steps were soft and soundless, making haste to return home.

Mr. Perlman and Elio froze at the edge of the cornfield.

Elio’s mother, every night, would turn on the yellow lights, a pathway if needed. Tonight, the red lights were lit.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!!! Comment and Kudos are super appreciated!
> 
> Tumblr:spencer-is-amazing.tumblr.com


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